Rebuilding Mike Tyson

Ron DiMichele

19.02 - Well, shame on me. I done got fooled again. I wanted to believe Iron Mike had one more run left, that he would pull himself out of the ashes of last June’s loss to Lennox Lewis and rise like the proverbial phoenix back into championship contention. But that seems like a pipe dream now, a cruel joke on John Q. Public. At first, things seemed so promising. The buzz in the street said Tyson (49-4, 43 KOs) was working hard, slimming down under hall-of-fame trainer Freddy Roach and assistant, Jeff Fenech. He looked sharp on the newsreels, sleek and muscular, dutifully working the speedbag. But recently the ugly rumors began leaking out of the Tyson camp like oil from a blown engine: Tyson AWOL, handlers flying out of town like bon-bons from a smashed piñata, ‘impromtu parties of considerable magnitude.’ Even Tyson’s own words rang hollow and theatrical, "I want the championship," he explained on a t.v. interview, "I want to be destructive and purge the ring with blood." Say what? Has this guy suddenly morphed into P. T. Barnum?

It all shakes down to this: Mike Tyson’s fight with Clifford Etienne (24-1-1, 17 KOs), scheduled for Sat. Feb. 22nd in Memphis, TN has been cancelled. "He’s not feeling well," explained Tyson manager, Shelley Finkel, "He’s had some bronchitis, some temperature stuff." NOT! Are you kidding me? For the sake of boxing, for the sake of the fans, and for the sake of Mike Tyson would it kill these guys to just once deliver an honest explanation? I don’t know about you, but the last time I had the flu I didn’t rush out and get a face tattoo (I know, "It’s a tribal thing").

Yes, at presstime, Tyson is now saying he wants to fight. Well, don’t get your hopes up too high. Saturday is still a long ways off.

Don’t get me wrong, I root for Mike Tyson. I can’t help myself. Tyson’s place in boxing history is a debate for another time, but it is inconceivable that anyone who witnessed him at the peak of his ferocious prime would not include him in any discussion of all-time greats. At 36 years of age, nobody’s going to say Mike Tyson hasn’t lost a little something off his fastball. But if he returned to the skills developed under legendary trainer Cus D’Amato, along with trainers Teddy Atlas and Kevin Rooney, the rebuilding of Mike Tyson was not out of the question.

Early in Tyson’s career he used his signature forward-moving aggression in tandem with excellent head movement, a jab, and a well-balanced crouch (from which he threw a wide array of punch combinations) to destroy opponent after opponent. Tyson’s lightning lunges and quick hands put the finishing touches on knockouts set up by an adherence to these basic techniques.

After his victory over Michael Spinks in 1988, Tyson released trainer Kevin Rooney and essentially cut all ties with his original Catskill Boys Club training team (future trainer, Jay Bright, was more of a boyhood friend). These changes coincided with a steady move by Tyson away from boxing fundamentals and into a more one-dimensional stalk and bomb fighting approach. This switch in tactics led to mixed results (see losses to Buster Douglas, Evander Holyfield, and Lennox Lewis). Even early in his career, Tyson could revert to looking for the one punch knockout if he was tired or lacking focus, and without someone in his corner to get him back on track, he would remain in these simplistic, ineffective ruts.

In recent fights, most notably the Lennox Lewis beat down, Tyson seemed headed for a fighting future of at best a trial horse for up-and-comers, or at worst, a ring novelty act. For a while, his name would fill the seats, but people were beginning to catch on, and it wouldn’t be long before the gig would be up. But if Roach could inspire Mike to get in shape, and return to using head movement, a jab, and punch combinations, couldn’t there be hope for one more title run? There’s little doubt Tyson can still take people out. The bombs are still there. But the bomb delivery system needs re-tooling. Maybe Roach would be the man to do it, but he couldn’t do it alone. Mike would have to cooperate, and for a while, it seemed like it was working.

The rebuilding of Mike Tyson entailed a return to the basic fundamentals learned by Tyson in his youth. Nobody was asking him to re-invent himself. Crouch, down and around with the head, duck, jab, timing, combinations. Basic stuff. Looping rights, left hooks, right hooks, to the head, to the body, jab, duck. Mike could do it. Why not?

Rebuilding Mike Tyson turned out to be a mirage on the Nevada desert, the promise of a gleaming jewel which soon disappeared in the udulating heat waves. Why? Because it isn’t what Mike Tyson really wants. Or if he does want it, he lacks the sustained discipline required to keep himself from succumbing again and again to the call of the wild. Who knows why? This most recent comeback was supposed to be, if not redemption, at least a step towards dignity in the waning light of a once brilliant career. But it ain’t gonna happen. There will be no rings ‘purged with blood,’ and maybe that’s for the best. Perhaps Mike Tyson needs to do his rebuilding, or decaying as the case may be, away from the harsh glare of the ring lights, and if not in anonymity, at least beyond the immediate public eye. His issues go well beyond bronchitis, and if he’s going to salvage a life for himself, it’s going to take time and space. But as long as he’s a cash cow, it is unlikely that time and space will appear. He’ll be trotted out again, probably willingly, and the baloney will fly as long as the public will buy. But does anyone doubt the time has come to bid Mike Tyson farewell?

Ron DiMichele's email is: rondimi@yahoo.com